Bloodred
by thecrimsonmonarch
Summary: Deep under the sea, in a place so far deep that you can travel for miles on end without any change in scenery, was a palace inhabited by the fair race of the Merfolk. [Little Mermaid AU]


It was an unspoken rule that, if you do not want to die a most horrible death, you should never, _ever_, follow the bubbles.

A rule that Ginny found herself disregarding on the eve of her fifteenth birthday.

"_Oooh_, King Arthur is going to be _mad - furious, _I tell you!" squealed Hermione.

Her bushy hair obstructed her view, which was really _not_ helpful in her current predicament, and she angrily tucked the uncooperative brown locks behind her ears. She had been entrusted with the task to watch over the Princess for a few hours, but she had no idea that keeping watch would mean literally not letting the little troublemaker leave your gaze for more than a couple of seconds. Now she was facing the consequences of her actions and was chasing after her young charge.

She was quickly finding herself not fast enough, though.

At the sound of Hermione's increasingly desperate and distressed cries, the small figure in the distance turned around; long, vibrant red hair framed her form, and the stark contrast against the dark depths they were currently in made her, at a distance, look like a dying flame.

Hermione could just see the faint outline of a grin spreading across her face.

"Come off it, 'Mione. Father won't know if you don't tell him." Her clear voice easily carried across, even though she was getting farther and farther by the second. "In fact," she drawled, and, although Hermione couldn't distinctly see her expression, she could just _tell_ that the younger mermaid was batting her lashes innocently, "if you help me, I _might_ just help you plan a little date with a certain dear brother of mine."

Hermione's rhythm instantly faltered, and it turned out that that small tumble was just what the other mermaid needed; her grin widened, and she uncorked the small bottle she had _gotten_ _(not stolen, mind)_ from her brothers Fred and George. As soon as the cork came off, a huge, black cloud of ink similar to that of a squid's obscured her from view.

"Ginny!" Hermione shrieked, staring in wide-eyed horror at the thick cloud. "Come back here at once! I'm not helping you get away this time!"

But Ginny knew a bluff when she saw one, and the high-pitched threats laced with _'Ginevra!'_s in the background did not faze her at all. Hermione had always had a sweet spot for her boyfriend's little sister, and she wouldn't let the "precious little princess" get in trouble if she can help it.

That thought reassured Ginny as she swam towards the bubbles' direction.

* * *

The moon was at its peak when Ginny broke the surface.

And, _by gods_, was she _enchanted_.

Unlike the constant blue sheen covering everything underwater, the surface world practically _exploded _with colors.

A glowing white disk (that was _like_ a pearl but not really a pearl) floated overhead, together with a myriad of tiny, twinkling lights strewn across the dark blue expanse. In the distance, on an enormous chunk of rock (that Ron had told her was called an "'I' Land," because "the two-legs look like a bunch of letter I's from afar"), were the recognizable figures of humans wrapped with colorful... _things_. The air was buzzing with life and music and cheer, and everyone was walking, and talking, and their voices carried over the waters.

Ginny couldn't find it in her to do anything else but stare in awe. Everything looked _beautiful_. Even the sea! She never knew it looked _that_ way. So -

_Moonlight reflected off the surface, and it sparkled like the prettiest diamond…_

\- so _straight_ \- like a mirror. Like something was standing in between, separating two different worlds.

_A division…_

One that she had crossed...

_The calm sea reflected the scene above, giving the impression that one was just like the other, only mirrored… the same, only upside-down…_

And that was when it really struck Ginny.

She had crossed the invisible barrier.

She was currently in both worlds.

_Like magic…_

Not long after, she was addicted.

* * *

For over a year, everything had been... steady.

As a matter of fact, Ginny had come up with a schedule; she would _only_ come up every full moon, she would _only_ stay for an hour or two, and she would _always_ come back home with no one else the wiser.

But, one night, she found herself straying from her schedule.

...

It was very late, and it was nearly time to go home, yet Ginny could not take her eyes off the ship, or from the beautiful young man.

There seemed to be some sort of festivity on-board. Humans don't normally stay so far from land at that time of night, yet there they were – _staying_, not to mention without any sign of leaving soon. Their ship was anchored to the spot, and members of the crew played, danced, and joked with each other on the main deck. They were consuming a strange-looking liquid that made most of the men look and act equally strange. Only a few were still unaffected by the strange haze, and one of them was the black-haired young man that had captured the mermaid princess's attention. He was leaning on the rail near the helm, overlooking the proceedings with a fond look in his green eyes.

Ginny distractedly imagined that the human would look even more beautiful underwater, with his black hair caught in the currents of the sea and surrounding his precious head like a halo.

Then, a small, thin man with exceptionally large eyes and ears approached the young man, and Ginny had to press herself against the side of the ship to hide. It was one thing to be spotted by a single pair of eyes and waved off as a trick of the light, and another to be spotted by two.

Hoping to at least learn the name of the young man, Ginny found herself unashamedly eavesdropping.

"It's particularly cloudy tonight, Your Highness. Perhaps it would be safer to return to shore," squeaked the little creature.

_'Your Highness!'_ exclaimed a little voice in Ginny's head. Perhaps the young man was a Prince? Oh, _how romantic!_

"Let the men enjoy a few more minutes, Dobby," the prince flippantly said. "They haven't had a good time in quite a while, and the next expedition would be in a few days' time. Let them spend at least a night in leisure. Besides," he added, "the navigator is the expert. He'd know if there was a storm brewing."

Ginny's thoughts of sea-side castles and Princes and epic romances slowed and came to a halt at that.

She was confused. There _was _a storm brewing. Shouldn't they all know that? It could easily be felt in the air.

But the two started talking again, and Ginny easily dismissed the matter, and she continued listening in on their conversation. After a few minutes, she had finally discovered the Prince's name.

"Harry," she breathed softly, letting the name roll off her tongue. "Prince Harry of 'I' Land."

She grinned. At least now he had a name to go by in her head. Deciding to retire for the night, she ducked down the water and started swimming back to the castle. She had been gone for more than two hours already, and she had better head home before her father, the King, sent for search parties and caused unnecessary panic.

* * *

Ginny had completed at least a quarter of the way home, when she felt some disturbance from the direction she came from.

Oh, right - _the storm_. She had forgotten about that.

She bit her lip, torn between saving herself from an ear-splitting lecture, and the opportunity to talk with the human Prince.

…

It wasn't really a difficult decision.

She would just make a bargain with Fred and George for that wonderful contraption that rendered you deaf when placed over your ears.

She swam back to where the ship was.

* * *

It was with barely-concealed excitement that Ginny watched the humans clumsily flapping their bony appendages amidst the wreckage of their ship. She could easily pick out Prince Harry from the others, and she was pleased to see that her prediction had indeed been right –he really did look beautiful underwater.

She absently wondered if he would mind staying and living in her father's palace.

"Aren't you going to save them?"

Ginny turned around in surprise at the unfamiliar but undoubtedly male voice, but no one was there.

She had always been warned not to talk to strangers, but she was too curious for her own good. Besides, it was only talking. What harm could it do?

"Save them?" she asked, her eyes darting around, not knowing where to settle when she didn't even know _where_ the mysterious speaker was, much less _what_ he was. "What do you mean?"

"They'll drown," came a murmur beside her ear. She whipped her head to the side, and this time, she caught a glimpse of black mist before it dissolved in the water. "Humans can't breathe underwater, just as Creatures of the Sea cannot walk on land."

"But they're swimming just fine-"

"For now… But soon…? Soon their innards will collapse, and they will follow the same fate as that of the bubbles. See for yourself, Princess. See their arms desperately reach out for _something_ but fail, then see them slowly float back to the surface when the sea has finally claimed something of theirs_._"

Ginny had figured she had nothing to lose if it was a mere joke, but so much was at stake if it was true. So, before the bodiless speaker could even finish talking, she was already by the prince's side.

In a sudden surge of power, his arms desperately reached out, and his hands clawed at her.

Now, Ginny knew, she really did, that Man's face twisted in agony wasn't _supposed_ to look beautiful, and that the haunted, green eyes of someone dying weren't _supposed_ to be so ironically full of life - _but they were_.

Beautiful, glorious, _exquisite_.

And during those few precious seconds, the only thing that occupied Ginny's mind was that Harry looked best like that.

* * *

Ginny laid the prince upon the closest rock she could possibly lay him upon without being seen by other humans. He still wasn't breathing and she didn't know what to do. She was unable to save the others, and it was starting to look like she couldn't help Harry, too.

Clueless, but possessed by the idea that only someone so desperate could have, Ginny sucked in a huge breath. Then, she pressed her lips against the prince's cold ones, gradually breathing life back into a body that was already as still and silent as a marble statue. Ginny desperately repeated the motion - again, and again, and again - and she soon can't tell anymore if the taste of salt on her lips was due to the seawater or to her tears.

Her will was nearly reaching its breaking point when, suddenly, _thankfully_, the prince started coughing. His whole body shook as he regurgitated all the saltwater he had consumed, and Ginny rubbed soothing circles across his back. After a minute or so, the coughs subsided, and Ginny found herself staring down at intense green eyes.

"Thank you," formed pale lips as the prince tried to speak in a raspy, barely audible voice.

Then his eyes fluttered close, and he slept.

"You're welcome," Ginny murmured, more due to habit than in actual reply, seeing as the young man was already unconscious.

She still had to go home, but she was so tired. A voice in her head kept screaming that she was to blame for the deaths tonight. It said that she could have saved those who died if only she was… smarter – if she was more _knowledgeable_ – if she hadn't simply been watching dumbly during the first few minutes.

She was, no matter how indirectly, responsible for their deaths.

Consumed by emotions, she cried beside the sleeping form of someone she only knew by name, mourning for the lost lives of those she knew not.

Time passed - how long, she was not sure - but Ginny's tears finally dried. Above her, the sky was already getting lighter. Before she could change her mind, and before somebody else could see her, she jumped back into the water.

She focused solely on swimming, ignoring the guilt eating away at her edges. She wanted nothing more than to be in her mother's arms and to forget about the terrible events of last night. But as soon as she got a safe distance away from the shore, a humming sound reached her ears. She immediately forced herself in a defensive position, and for a while, everything was pushed to the back of her mind as her survival mechanism kicked in.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Tendrils of black gathered and swirled around in a mild whirlpool-like manner in front of her, just a short distance away.

"Calm down, little Princess. I am no foe of yours," said an amused voice from inside the darkness.

Ginny then recognized it as the bodiless voice from before. She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

The spinning intensified, and then, without warning, ceased. The mist dissolved. Left in its place was a tall, thin male that could have passed as a human except for a smattering of black scales covering patches of his pale skin. He offered her a smile that did not reach his red eyes, and which only made him look more dangerous.

"Hello, Ginny," he said in greeting, his voice deceivingly pleasant and soft like silk. "You may call me Tom."


End file.
